Some 2,000 people have staged a protest in Vienna after a lesbian couple said they were thrown out of a renowned cafe in Austria's capital for kissing.
The couple were ejected from the 112-year-old Cafe Prueckel last weekend for what they called a "greeting kiss".
The cafe's manager admitted to an "excessive" reaction but said they were "canoodling" and she needed to ensure "recognised standards of behaviour".
Vienna hosts several gay, bisexual and cross-dressing events every year.
The couple said the protest was to draw attention to wider discrimination against gays.
Anastasia Lopez, 26, told Austrian newspapers that she and Eva Prewein, 19, were barred from the cafe after Christl Sedlar, the manager, said "diversity such as this belongs in a brothel, not in a traditional coffee house".
Ms Sedlar insisted she had acted because of the couple's "canoodling" rather than because they were gay.
She later apologised for the "excessive" reaction but said her job was "to ensure that recognised standards of behaviour in society are adhered to by all guests".
But the apology failed to stop anger on social media, which led to the city's tourist agency criticising Ms Sedlar's actions.
The city has become a hotspot for the communities since Austria's bearded transvestite Conchita Wurst won the Eurovision Song Contest last year.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30859606
